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For better or worse, parents today are keeping much closer tabs on their children's movement and activities. Current estimates are that at least 80% of US parents actively keep tabs on their children electronically, often checking multiple times a day. The days of "free range kids" are long gone; most children are now monitored in some way most of the time.
That behavior is beginning to extend to schools now as well, including the bus systems. If you aren't actively tracking your student ridership in real time, it may be time to look into it.
Why Student ID Tracking Makes Sense
It's now relatively inexpensive to install scanners on buses that track students' ID cards as they get on or off the bus. These could be manual scanners that need swiping, or touchless RFID chips, but the basic idea is the same: always know who's getting on and off your bus, where it happens, and when.
From a basic transportation management standpoint, this simply makes sense. Scanning ID cards gives you accurate data on ridership for your reporting. It also allows drivers to quickly spot if a child gets off at the wrong location, by instantly sending a warning. ID tracking can even prevent lost child situations, or at least provide useful information about their last known location.
However, it will also be appreciated by parents who want to keep tabs on their children. Your office undoubtedly gets numerous calls from parents wanting to know where their child is, or when the bus will arrive. With GPS and ID tracking, you will be able to provide exact information that, yes, their child is still on the bus, and give an ETA.
Better yet - what if parents could get those answers for themselves? The same information could be made available to parents, securely, through a parental notification app. Then the parent can simply look up their child's bus on demand, while avoiding a time-consuming call to your office that neither of you really wants.
In short, student ridership tracking can make everyone happy: the parents get detailed information on where their child is, while you get more data and fewer distracting phone calls during the day.
BusBoss can make tracking upgrades easy and affordable, while linking them directly to your school bus mapping software. Contact us to learn more about the process, and how it can help protect your students!
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PRESIDENT
Sonia has been involved with BusBoss since the late 1990’s, and has personally overseen many projects for various customers ranging from large urban and suburban districts to smaller rural school districts from all over the country.
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